Addleshaw Goddard and Slaughter and May have advised on the merger of Dutch consulting and management services company Arcadis with UK property management company EC Harris.

The deal creates one of the largest property advisory and project services companies in the world with a global turnover of €2.3bn (£2bn) and almost 19,000 staff across Europe, the US and Brazil.

Addleshaw Goddard acted for EC Harris, a longstanding client of the firm, fielding a team including professional practices head William Wastie (pictured), fellow London-based professional practices partner Aster Crawshaw and managing associate Adina Fargher.

The firm's role on the deal came after it also advised on the £197m merger between real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle and property consultancy King Sturge earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Slaughters is understood to have taken the lead role for Arcadis. The magic circle firm, which declined to comment, previously advised Arcadis on its acquisition of construction and property consultants AYH in 2005.

Crawshaw said: "EC Harris is a limited liability partnership with 186 members, which made it particularly challenging from a structural point of view. As well as managing a large and complex M&A process, we also advised on the partnership aspects of the deal, including the allocation of proceeds among members and a sophisticated liability structure."

Arcadis is funding the acquisition by issuing three million shares to EC Harris partners as well as paying an undisclosed cash sum. EC Harris reported gross revenues of £254m for the year ending April 2011 and employs 2,600 people across 28 countries.